Kenneth Branagh To Direct Thor Superhero Movie

Kenneth Branagh has been picked to direct Thor, yet another film based on a character from Marvel Comics. Despite the company’s consistent rate of success—most notably their blockbuster X-Men, Spider-Man and Iron Man films (Ghost Rider even did ok for a movie based on Ghost Rider), a film about the Norse god of Thunder would seem like less than a sure hit. Choosing Branagh doesn’t seem to improve their box office chances either. Sure, he did a good job with Henry V in 1990, but that was almost twenty years ago and the budget was pretty small. None of his directorial have ever made more than $25 million in the U.S., and since Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1994, none of have made even $5 million. As it costs about that much to get a shot of Nicolas Cage standing on a rock, you can see what a leap of faith Marvel is making.